The present invention relates to reusable pantsiholders for diapers and disposable liners.
Pants that function as holders for diapers or disposable liners are well known in the prior art. Most suffer from one or more of several disadvantages such as, e.g., (1) the need to be secured on the wearer by safety pins or other external securing devices which can become lost or can injure the wearer; (2) are not reusable; (3) need to be unsecured or unfastened to remove the diaper or disposable liner; (4) have a construction, shape or conformation required for holding the diaper or liner that is uncomfortable to the wearer, and the like. Typical of such holders are those shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,000,381; 3,483,864; 3,688,767; 3,900,032 and UK Patent No. 1,520,740.
Many of these disadvantages are overcome by the pants/holder described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,576,601 (the entire contents and disclosure of which are incorporated herein by reference). That patent discloses a plastic pants/holder for diapers fastenable by releasable hook/pile fasteners that securely fix a diaper or disposable liner in a desired position. Although that patents/holder represents a significant improvement over prior art garments of the same type, it nevertheless suffers from the disadvantage that the hook/pile fasteners must be released in order to remove the pants/holder from the wearer. The garment is of such a construction that, when the hook/pile fasteners are secured to hold the garment in place on the wearer, it can only be removed by releasing the fasteners.
It is an object of the present invention to provide an improved pants/holder of the type described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,576,601 that may be removed from the wearer without the necessity for releasing the hook/pile fasteners.
The above and other objects are realized by the present invention, one embodiment of which relates to a diaper or liner holder comprising a plastic piece extending between a back waistband portion and a front waistband portion along two sides; each waistband portion having two ends, each side having an elastic member to provide elastic contractable leg portions by gathering at least part of the side; front and back bands attached to the plastic piece to extend lengthwise along and adjacent to the respective front and back waistband portions and operable to hold a cloth diaper, liner or disposable pad placed over and under the bands; each of the waistband portions having a releasable hook/pile fastening portion at least at end of its ends; wherein the holder forms pants upon each of the fastening portions of the front waistband portion being secured to a complimentary one of the fastening portions of the back waistband portion with each of contractable leg portions defining a leg opening; each side having an overlapping portion disposed to overlap a corresponding overlapped portion of the same side, each overlapping portion removable relative to the corresponding overlapped portion from the leg opening up to the waistband portions such that air may circulate under the overlapping portions; wherein the fabric fastening portions on the waistbands are fastenable so as to adjust the diaper holder for different sized waists; and wherein the back and front waistband portions are elastic to permit the holder to be pulled down at least part way over the legs of the wearer and, if desired, to be pulled back up to its original position without the need to release the hook/pile fastening portions.